President Joe Biden&#8217;s nominee to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) went down in flames on Tuesday after she faced a brutal confirmation process and a key Democrat said that he would oppose her nomination.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced on Tuesday that he would not vote for Gigi Sohn after she faced &#8220;unprecedented, bipartisan opposition to her nomination as a result of her years of partisan activism, inflammatory statements online, and work with far-left groups.&#8221; Sohn withdrew her nomination to the post later that day.
Manchin said that the FCC has been an independent, nonpartisan regulator of all forms of communication in American life for the last century and that it has only started to become highly politicized in recent years.
&#8220;The FCC must remain above the toxic partisanship that Americans are sick and tired of, and Ms. Sohn has clearly shown she is not the person to do that,&#8221; Manchin said. &#8220;For those reasons, I cannot support her nomination to the FCC, and I urge the Biden Administration to put forth a nominee who can bring us together, not drive us apart.”
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FLASHBACK
Sen. Ted Cruz blasted Gigi Sohn in his opening statement during her 3rd confirmation hearing in February: “If Ms. Sohn’s brazen theft of intellectual property, her lack of candor, and her conflicts of interest weren&#39;t disqualifying on their own, <a href="https://t.co/tTwzRqJl1D">pic.twitter.com/tTwzRqJl1D</a>… <a href="https://t.co/eOuktoJwbE">https://t.co/eOuktoJwbE</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1633192763117248514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
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FLASHBACK:
Sen. Ted Cruz to Gigi Sohn: &quot;As you know, I have significant concerns about your record, that you&#39;ve demonstrated a hostility to conservative speech&#8230; And the FCC is a very dangerous place for a regulator to have the authority to silence <a href="https://t.co/u6F6gjwfZt">pic.twitter.com/u6F6gjwfZt</a>… <a href="https://t.co/tsNFUlnAqF">https://t.co/tsNFUlnAqF</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1633193241259409409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
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FLASHBACK: Sen. Ted Cruz grills Gigi Sohn on her claim that Fox News is “destroying democracy.” <a href="https://t.co/o8kB3OaOHJ">pic.twitter.com/o8kB3OaOHJ</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1633191927016292353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
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FLASHBACK: 
Sen. Ted Cruz to Biden FCC nominee Gigi Sohn: &quot;Do you believe it was poor judgment to give 12 separate political contributions to Democrat Senators while your nomination was pending?&quot;
Sohn: &quot;The answer is no.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/D59XFyVS0h">pic.twitter.com/D59XFyVS0h</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1633192229136130050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Sen. Ted Cruz: “While her nom was pending, Ms. Sohn was making multiple financial donations to Senators who are charged with voting on her confirmation. Had this been done by a [GOP] nominee, I have no doubt that my Democrat colleagues &amp; their media allies would be apoplectic.” <a href="https://t.co/NXZtrfTwrA">pic.twitter.com/NXZtrfTwrA</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1625538267838922767?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee, led the Republican opposition during Sohn&#8217;s confirmation hearings by highlighting her history of advocating for censorship of conservatives, hostility to Right-wing media, &#8220;brazen theft of intellectual property,&#8221; her conflicts of interest, her not showing &#8220;candor&#8221; with the committee, and controversial political donations that she made while undergoing the confirmation process.
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“The withdrawal of Ms. Sohn’s nomination is a major victory and represents a strong bipartisan agreement that we need a fair and impartial candidate who can receive the support needed for confirmation,&#8221; Cruz said in a statement. &#8220;The FCC is not a place for partisan activists; free speech is too important. Now, it’s time for the Biden administration to put forth a nominee who can be confirmed by the full Senate and is committed to serving as an even-handed and truly independent regulator.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-bidens-fcc-nominee-works-for-a-think-tank-funded-by-the-telecom-giants-she-was-nominated-to-oversee-memo-claims">Exclusive: Biden’s FCC Nominee Works For A Think Tank Funded By The Telecom Giants She Was Nominated To Oversee, Memo Claims</a>

Key Speakers At Conservative Political Action Conference

Biden Nominee Goes Down In Flames After Ruthless Onslaught From Ted Cruz

Congress

Executive

Joe Manchin

Ted Cruz

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/rihanna" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rihanna&#8217;s</a> half-time performance at Super Bowl LVII has been compared to pornography and more in over 100 FCC complaints about the broadcast on February 12 in Arizona.
The 35-year-old singer&#8217;s Super Bowl performance was labeled &#8220;indecent&#8221; and &#8220;pornographic&#8221; in the dozens of complaints to the Federal Communications Commission that were reviewed by <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/02/23/rihanna-superbowl-halftime-fcc-complaints/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TMZ,</a> the outlet reported on Thursday.
&#8220;This year the halftime show was so indecent I had to turn off the TV because of the pornographic content,&#8221; one person from Utah explained.
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Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Drew FCC Complaints Accusing Her of Being Too Sexual <a href="https://t.co/5iZdN5OuIo">https://t.co/5iZdN5OuIo</a>
&mdash; Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) <a href="https://twitter.com/ComplexMusic/status/1629194133616066560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
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A California resident wrote in their complaint that the show was &#8220;pornography&#8221; and compared the singer&#8217;s show to the &#8220;Satanic&#8221; performance at the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/satanic-grammys-continue-award-shows-ratings-slump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2023 Grammy Awards</a> by Sam Smith and Kim Petras.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t care what someone worships but children shouldn&#8217;t be exposed to pornography and as an adult I don&#8217;t wish to see it … &#8221; the complaint stated. &#8220;Where has decency gone? How about respect for others and self?&#8221;
In other complaints, the &#8220;Umbrella&#8221; hitmakers and her backup dancers were blasted for &#8220;overtly sexual dancing,” with movements that &#8220;were patently offensive and completely inappropriate for children.”
One person from Florida said that Rihanna &#8220;spread her a** cheek at the crack. She rubbed her pants where her l**** were three times.&#8221;
On social media, many slammed the singer&#8217;s sexualized choreography, The <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/24/rihannas-sexy-super-bowl-show-gets-fcc-complaints/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Post</a> noted.
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One person wrote, &#8220;So is it me or did Rihanna just grab her junk and then smell it and taste it? Way to stay classy!&#8221;
While another person tweeted, &#8220;Apparently I&#8217;m the only person [on] Twitter who thinks Rihanna&#8217;s halftime show was terrible. Why is she touching her crotch in a show kids are watching? And why are her backup dancers dressed like hazmat COVID freaks that do those gross brain swab tests?&#8221;
The Barbadian singer also faced backlash for apparently lip-syncing during her Super Bowl show earlier this month.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chris-stapleton-delivers-moving-rendition-of-national-anthem-at-super-bowl-lvii" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chris Stapleton Delivers Moving Rendition Of National Anthem At Super Bowl LVII</a>

Rihanna-5

Rihanna’s Super Bowl Performance Compared To Pornography In FCC Complaints About Broadcast

Celebrities

Entertainment

Pornography

Rihanna

Super Bowl

The Biden administration&#8217;s FCC nominee may have deep conflicts of interest with the companies she may oversee, according to a memo obtained by The Daily Wire.
According to the memo, Sohn&#8217;s public records show that she is a consultant for the Benton Institute for Broadband &amp; Society, a think tank dedicated to expanding broadband access. But that think tank is funded by many of the telecom giants she is nominated to oversee. And Sohn has publicly criticized that exact behavior before.
According to Sohn&#8217;s <a href="https://thewellnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Sohn-Gigi-final278.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report</a> with the Office of Government Ethics from January 2022, Sohn earned some $137,002 in &#8220;consulting fees&#8221; from the Benton Institute for Broadband &amp; Society, which accounts for nearly half of her reported salary. In the filing, Sohn described her work as &#8220;[p]ublic advocacy, coalition building and strategic guidance that broadens public awareness about the importance of universal, affordable and open communications networks.&#8221;
According to the Benton Institute&#8217;s website, Sohn has been a <a href="https://www.benton.org/benton-experts/gigi-sohn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Senior Fellow and Public Advocate</a> with the organization since 2018, and has published nearly 20 articles for their blog, and another she co-authored for the website TechDirt.
However, according to a <a href="https://www.benton.org/donor-recognition-dc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">donor list</a> also on the Benton Institute&#8217;s website, the organization is sponsored by several of the largest telecommunications giants in the country, companies that Sohn will oversee if appointed to the FCC. Among the organization&#8217;s &#8220;Platinum Sponsors&#8221; are Google Fiber, the internet giant&#8217;s fiber-to-the-premises broadband subsidiary; Verizon; and T-Mobile. One of the group&#8217;s &#8220;Gold Sponsors&#8221; is the National Lifeline Association, a non-profit which supports the federal Lifeline program. &#8220;Silver Sponsors&#8221; include AT&amp;T, Dish Network, and Twitter.
And Sohn has criticized these exact groups in the past. &#8220;Yes, it’s better that @FCC is again run by telecom, cable &amp; broadcast industries &amp; their bought &amp; paid 4 think-tanks,&#8221; Sohn tweeted sarcastically in 2017, replying to a critic. &#8220;Now *that’s* democracy!&#8221;
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Yes, it’s better that <a href="https://twitter.com/FCC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FCC</a> is again run by telecom, cable &amp; broadcast industries &amp; their bought &amp; paid 4 think-tanks. Now *that’s* democracy! <a href="https://t.co/7rlzHTeqDD">https://t.co/7rlzHTeqDD</a>
&mdash; Gigi Sohn (@gigibsohn) <a href="https://twitter.com/gigibsohn/status/935863910044971010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Sohn advertises her position at the Benton Institute in her Twitter bio.
On January 3, President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/01/03/nominations-sent-to-the-senate-91/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">re-nominated</a> Sohn for a vacant seat on the FCC formerly held by Ajit Pai. He previously nominated her in 2021, but her nomination stalled because of concerns about overtly partisan statements and advocating for censorship of conservative news networks like Fox News and Sinclair Media.
“My principal concern with Ms. Sohn is that she has expressed a significant willingness to use government power against political enemies, and to use government power as a tool of censorship,&#8221; Texas Republican Senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cruz-sounds-alarm-on-biden-fcc-nominee-dangerous-place-for-a-partisan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ted Cruz</a> said in a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last March. &#8220;And I think the FCC is a particularly dangerous place for a partisan who is willing to try to muzzle those with whom she disagrees.” Cruz also raised ethical concerns over a secret legal settlement made by company she served on the board of, just one day after Biden announced her nomination.
The Commerce Committee deadlocked on her nomination, sending her confirmation to the full Senate with extra procedural hurdles. The nomination was never brought to the floor, and the Senate returned the nomination to Biden on January 3, before the 117th Congress concluded and the 118th Congress opened.
Sohn is currently facing criticism over her position on the board of the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-fcc-nominee-sits-board-group-opposes-anti-sex-trafficking-efforts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a> (EFF), which opposed a pair of bipartisan laws passed in 2018 aimed at stopping online sex trafficking, as well as sharing a tweet <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-fcc-nominee-gigi-sohn-shared-tweet-calling-trump-raggedy-white-supremacist-president" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attacking</a> former President Trump.

Screen Shot 2022-03-30 at 9.36.07 PM

Exclusive: Biden’s FCC Nominee Works For A Think Tank Funded By The Telecom Giants She Was Nominated To Oversee, Memo Claims

Exclusive: Biden's FCC Nominee Works For A Think Tank Funded By The Telecom Giants She Was Nominated To Oversee, Memo Claims

Biden Administration

Conflicts

Senate

Weeks after losing her second attempt to become the governor of Georgia, <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/stacey-abrams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stacey Abrams</a> might already have her eyes on a new position: the federal government’s top telecommunications regulator.
The Democrat asked members of the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden administration</a> to appoint her as the next chair of the Federal Communications Commission, an agency responsible for regulating cable, radio, satellite, television, and other mechanisms for interstate or international communications, according to a <a href="https://twitter.com/NathanLeamerDC/status/1598309809912176644/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from industry publication Communications Daily, which cited unnamed lobbyists familiar with the matter.
Michael Holloman, a spokesman for Abrams, nevertheless said in a <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/stacey-abrams-lobbying-president-biden-new-fcc-choice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> to Fox Business that Abrams has “not applied for or sought out a position” at the regulatory agency.
Abrams, the former minority leader in the Georgia House of Representatives, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/brian-kemp-defeats-stacey-abrams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lost</a> her gubernatorial rematch against Republican incumbent Brian Kemp by an eight-point margin earlier this month after narrowly succumbing to the nominee four years ago.
The White House has been attempting to nominate Gigi Sohn, who served as a counselor to former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler and a co-founder of nonprofit interest group Public Knowledge, to serve as the head of the agency, although she may not have a sufficient number of votes to be confirmed by the Senate before the next Congress assumes power in January. Didier Barjon, a legislative assistant for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), is on the shortlist to be tapped by the Biden administration, according to Communications Daily.
If the outlet’s report is correct, the moonshot attempt for Abrams to gain a high-profile appointment from President Joe Biden would not have been her first. When the former vice president clinched the Democratic nomination for the White House in the spring of 2020, Abrams <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stacey-abrams-now-actively-campaigning-for-vp-slot-as-her-own-hype-man" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promoted herself</a> as a possible running mate. “I have the capacity to attract voters by motivating typically ignored communities,” she asserted. “I have a strong history of executive and management experience in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors.”
A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stacey-abrams-has-been-calling-dem-leadership-begging-to-be-vp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Politico found that Abrams had been calling Democratic leadership and begging for the post. Biden, who promised during the primaries that he would choose a woman as his running mate, ultimately selected then-Senator Kamala Harris of California.
For months after Abrams lost the 2018 gubernatorial election, she made national headlines for claiming that the election was stolen from her due to purported voter suppression and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/im-not-delusional-stacey-abrams-claims-she-never-denied-losing-in-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">never offered</a> a formal concession to Kemp, ultimately launching the activist group Fair Fight Action to combat the alleged civil rights abuse. Though she has since <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stacey-abrams-election-denier-denier" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denied that she denied</a> the election, Abrams announced as late as 2019, “Despite the final tally and the inauguration, I do have one very affirmative statement to make: we won.”
Abrams spent much of her second gubernatorial campaign soliciting votes in Democratic strongholds rather than casting a more moderate image. She visited several predominantly black churches, where ministers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/an-army-of-woke-preachers-praised-stacey-abrams-as-modern-day-deborah-john-the-baptist-ahead-of-second-failed-gubernatorial-bid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">highlighted</a> her candidacy from the pulpit. The attention from professing faith leaders came despite Abrams claiming that looser restrictions on abortion would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inflation-hurting-your-family-thats-why-we-need-abortion-stacey-abrams-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">help families</a> deal with rising prices. She claimed during one interview that “you cannot divorce being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy from the economic realities of having a child.”

Stacey Abrams

Stacey Abrams Spokesman Denies She Lobbied Biden To Become One Of The Nation’s Top Regulators

Stacey Abrams May Have Been Lobbying For FCC Chair; Spokesman Denies

Politics

The U.S. announced on Friday that it is banning the sale and import of certain technology from several <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese</a> companies after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/national-security" target="_blank" rel="noopener">national security</a> concerns. 
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fcc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Federal Communications Commission</a> (FCC) <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-technology-donald-trump-national-security-federal-communications-commission-6904d9fc598321fadc8bccb430efd800" target="_blank" rel="noopener">finalized</a> a rule that would block Huawei, ZTE, Hikvision, and Dahua from importing and selling certain technology that the board viewed as posing a potential threat to national security. 
“The FCC is committed to protecting our national security by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders, and we are continuing that work here,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. 
The rule affects new authorizations of equipment from the companies and does not necessarily apply to anything that had previously been authorized. Brendan Carr, one of the Republicans on the FCC, <a href="https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1596227458629525507" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Twitter that he hoped the board would look at revoking previous authorizations. 
Huawei, a Chinese multinational telecommunications company, has long been under scrutiny as a possible arm of the Chinese Communist Party. Earlier this year, it was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-quietly-probes-chinese-tech-firm-for-possibly-harvesting-data-from-military-bases-missile-silos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the Biden administration was investigating Huawei for allegedly harvesting data from U.S. military bases and missile silos. 
The rule means that no new tech from ZTE or Huawei can be approved and surveillance equipment from Dahua and Hikvision won’t be used for government or public safety purposes. 
Carr also said that the decision was the first time the panel had banned a product because of national security fears. 
“Our unanimous decision represents the first time in FCC history that we have voted to prohibit the authorization of new equipment based on national security concerns,” Carr tweeted. 
He noted that “no new Huawei or ZTE equipment can be approved. And no new Dahua, Hikvision, or Hytera gear can be approved unless they assure the FCC that their gear won’t be used for public safety, security of government facilities, &amp; other national security purposes.”
Hikvision, a Chinese-state owned surveillance company, denied that any of its products endanger national security. 
&#8220;This decision by the FCC will do nothing to protect U.S. national security, but will do a great deal to make it more harmful and more expensive for U.S. small businesses, local authorities, school districts, and individual consumers to protect themselves, their homes, businesses and property,” the company said. 
Concern about Huawei was first brought to the forefront during the Trump administration, which took several steps to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/crippled-by-trumps-national-security-risk-ban-chinese-tech-giant-huawei-launches-own-operating-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener">limit the reach</a> of the company, which has also faced opposition across the world. In 2020, the U.K. took steps to ban Huawei from being linked to the country’s 5G networks.

Booth of Chinese communications technology company Huawei at

U.S. Makes Historic Move To Block Certain Chinese Tech After National Security Concerns

Big Tech

China

National Security

Federal communication officials urged the U.S. government Tuesday to ban the video-sharing app <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tiktok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a> in a plea to protect the private data of American citizens.
Brendan Carr, one of five commissioners for the Federal Communications Commission, told <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/11/01/interview-fcc-commissioner-says-government-should-ban-tiktok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Axios</a> the federal agency could not regulate the social media app and that the data flow back to Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Chinese tech giant ByteDance owns TikTok, which currently has more than 200 million downloads in the United States — and according to <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/fcc-commissioner-urges-us-government-ban-tiktok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox Business</a>, the company must share its data with the CCP upon request, as required by law.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe there is a path forward for anything other than a ban,&#8221; Carr said, adding that there isn&#8217;t &#8220;a world in which you could come up with sufficient protection on the data that you could have sufficient confidence that it&#8217;s not finding its way back into the hands of the [Chinese Communist Party].&#8221;
The U.S. Council on Foreign Investment recently launched an investigation into TikTok regarding whether the app could divest from ByteDance and allow it to operate in the U.S., which former President Trump had suggested while in office. The investigation came after China reportedly planned to use the platform to track the location of specific American citizens.
TikTok officials responded to the FCC in a statement to Axios, affirmed the company remains confident that it&#8217;s on a path to reaching an agreement regarding national security concerns with the federal government.
&#8220;Commissioner Carr has no role in the confidential discussions with the U.S. government related to TikTok and appears to be expressing views independent of his role as an FCC commissioner,&#8221; a TikTok spokesperson told Axios.
Leaked audio obtained by BuzzFeed News in June revealed that China had accessed U.S. TikTok user data for months while U.S. employees did not have access themselves. The audio covered more than 80 internal meetings at the social media company between September 2021 and January 2022.
Former President Trump signed an executive order before leaving office that banned the app from the U.S. in 2020. However, the Biden administration reversed the order and called for a security review of the app.
U.S. politicians have shown heavy disapproval for the video-sharing platform due to its ties with the Chinese government — with even Democrats admitting Trump was right to sign the previous executive order.
&#8220;This is not something you would normally hear me say, but Donald Trump was right on TikTok years ago,&#8221; Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said last week, according to Axios. &#8220;If your country uses Huawei, if your kids are on TikTok … the ability for China to have undue influence is a much greater challenge and a much more immediate threat than any kind of actual, armed conflict.&#8221;

Trump Approves TikTok Takeover By Oracle And Walmart

Federal Government Urged To Ban TikTok By FCC Commissioner, Warning User Data Allegedly Flows Back To Chinese Communist Party

Federal Government Urged To Ban TikTok By FCC Commissioner, Warning User Data Allegedly Flow Back To Chinese Communist Party

Communist China

General

TikTok

An explosive report published by CNN outlined how the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china">Chinese</a> communist government has infiltrated U.S. infrastructure in a way that could potentially jeopardize national security and disrupt U.S. military operations.
The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/23/politics/fbi-investigation-huawei-china-defense-department-communications-nuclear/index.html">report</a> highlighted a story from the early days of the Trump administration when China wanted to build a $100 million garden, complete with a 70-foot-tall pagoda, at Washington, D.C.&#8217;s National Arboretum.
However, U.S. counterintelligence officials noticed that the proposed pagoda would have been a &#8220;perfect spot&#8221; to collect signals because it would have been high up and only a few miles from the Capitol, sources said, according to CNN. Additionally, China wanted to ship the building materials for the pagoda in diplomatic pouches, preventing U.S. Customs from examining them, the outlet noted.
The U.S. federal government killed the project before it ever got started.
CNN&#8217;s report highlighted far more serious concerns about what China has been doing in America&#8217;s heartland: selling Chinese-made Huawei telecommunications equipment at low prices to providers in rural America near U.S. military bases.
The FBI found that the equipment being sold in those areas was &#8220;capable of capturing and disrupting&#8221; communications related to the nation&#8217;s nuclear arsenal, sources familiar with the matter reportedly told CNN.
&#8220;This gets into some of the most sensitive things we do,&#8221; a source told CNN. &#8220;It would impact our ability for essentially command and control with the nuclear triad. That goes into the &#8216;[Big F***ing Deal]&#8217; category. If it is possible for that to be disrupted, then that is a very bad day.&#8221;
In the fall of 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effectively banned companies from using Huawei equipment. The following year, Congress approved $1.9 billion to remove Chinese-made equipment from across the U.S., but two years later the equipment still has not been removed, according to CNN.
The report said that China&#8217;s plan to infiltrate U.S. infrastructure began during President Barack Obama&#8217;s administration when the FBI uncovered China was exploiting the lack of resources in rural communities along Interstate 25 in Colorado and Montana by selling those communities cheap equipment. In fact, the equipment was so cheap that it appeared to be unprofitable for Huawei.
CNN noted that the area China was targeting contained numerous missile silos and military bases.
The investigation also revealed that China had access to high-definition weather surveillance cameras on the cell towers up and down I-25, which could allow the Chinese to monitor activity on the roads between several military facilities, according to CNN.
Top U.S. officials told CNN that it was possible for China to control the cameras and position them in the direction that they wanted them to look.
Federal officials shut down a Chinese attempt to buy real estate in Utah that was located near testing stations that involved hypersonic weapons.
Another example of a problematic Chinese purchase recently happened in North Dakota where Chinese food manufacturer Fufeng Group bought hundreds of acres of land to set up a milling plant that is only minutes away from the Grand Forks Air Force Base, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/01/chinese-purchase-of-north-dakota-farmland-raises-national-security-concerns-in-washington.html">reported</a>. Both top Democrat and Republican lawmakers are opposed to the deal.
Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) called out what China is doing during a recent Fox News interview, saying that it was a &#8220;problem&#8221; and it should not be allowed to continue.
&#8220;Now, what we have done in Florida. I&#8217;ve signed legislation to crack down on undue influence from rogue states, including the CCP. So, for example, we banned Confucius Institutes in the state of Florida, they try to go in higher education, and they try to spread the propaganda,&#8221; DeSantis said. &#8220;So we&#8217;ve taken good steps. And we&#8217;re also probably going to do legislation, next legislative session about our pension investments with things that may be linked to the CCP. We don&#8217;t have necessarily have a lot of it. But we want to make sure that we&#8217;re cutting ties so that we&#8217;re not funding our number one adversary.&#8221;

China Tech’s Grip Persists in US Long After Orders to Rip It Out

China Infiltrates Critical U.S. Infrastructure, Can Disrupt Nuclear Response And Spy On U.S. Military: Report

Capitol Hill

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fcc">Federal Communications Commission</a> hopes to make hearing about &#8220;your car&#8217;s extended warranty&#8221; a thing of the past as the agency ordered <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/united-states">American</a> voice providers to stop carrying phone calls from 13 individuals and six companies accused of sending billions of illegal <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cell-phones">robocalls</a> since 2018.
The FCC enforcement bureau <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/robocall-enforcement-order-all-us-based-voice-service-providers">ordered</a> American companies Thursday to stop servicing several individuals from Texas, California, and even Hungary by taking active steps to mitigate or outright block calls from such individuals.
&#8220;Should any voice service provider fail to comply with these obligations and fail to take all necessary steps to avoid carrying suspected illegal robocall traffic made by/on behalf of these individuals and entities, that voice service provider may be deemed to have knowingly and willfully engaged in transmitting unlawful robocalls,&#8221; the FCC said in its order.
“We are not going to tolerate robocall scammers or those that help make their scams possible,” FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel <a href="https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/fcc-orders-phone-companies-to-block-auto-warranty-robocalls/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20are%20not%20going%20to,m%20right%20there%20with%20them.%E2%80%9D">said</a> in a statement. “Consumers are out of patience and I’m right there with them.”
The purpose of the letter was to &#8220;provide actual written notice to all voice service providers about suspected illegal robocalls that have been made in violation of one or more provisions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, the Truth In Caller ID Act of 2009, and/or the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (TRACED Act) of 2019, collectively codified in section 227 of the Communications Act.&#8221;
In one case, two men by the names of Roy Melvin Cox Jr. of Tustin, California, and Aaron Michael Jones of Orange County, California, are accused of sending more than eight billion robocalls through an operation known as Sumco Panama S.A and Sumco Panama, Inc.
These two men are accused of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
Cox&#8217;s and Jones&#8217; calls allegedly &#8220;displayed inaccurate or misleading caller identification, with an apparent intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain something of value, in violation of the Truth in Caller ID Act and section 64.1604 of the Commission’s rules,&#8221; the FCC noted.
The individuals in question also reportedly &#8220;purchased nearly 500,000 numbers from at least 229 area codes in November and December 2020 apparently to make the calls appear to consumers as if they were originating locally.&#8221;
Authorities say that approximately &#8220;75% of FCC complaints which listed caller ID pertained to numbers that matched the consumer’s area code, belonged to area codes adjacent to the consumer’s area code, or belonged to an area code in the same state.&#8221;
For example, the FCC said that the following infamous script was often deployed to trick unsuspecting individuals:
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&#8220;We’ve been trying to reach you concerning your car’s extended warranty. You should have received something in the mail about your car’s extended warranty. Since we have not gotten a response, we are giving you a final courtesy call before we close out your file. Press 2 to be removed and put on our Do-Not-Call list. Press 1 to speak with someone about extending or reinstating your car&#8217;s warranty. Again, press 1 to speak with a warranty specialist. (Pause) Or call our 800 number at 833-304-1447.25,&#8221; one call said.
If a voice provider cancels any of the accused as a customer or blocks all traffic from the accused, they will not have to report efforts to mitigate illegal robocalls with the customer in question to the FCC.
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However, &#8220;if any voice service provider, after investigation of the suspected illegal robocall traffic identified in this Order, thereafter does NOT terminate a customer relationship or block the traffic, it will be required to provide a written report to the Bureau with the results of its investigation, as required by section 64.1200(n)(2) of the rules.&#8221;
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&#8220;Now that U.S. voice service providers know the individuals and entities associated with this scheme, the Enforcement Bureau will closely monitor voice service providers’ compliance with this order and take appropriate enforcement action as necessary,&#8221; Acting FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal <a href="https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/fcc-orders-phone-companies-to-block-auto-warranty-robocalls/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20are%20not%20going%20to,m%20right%20there%20with%20them.%E2%80%9D">said</a> in a statement.
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Stock Photo

FCC Officially Cracks Down On Annoying ‘Your Car’s Extended Warranty’ Robocalls

FCC Officially Cracks Down On Annoying 'Your Car's Extended Warranty' Robocalls

California

Texas

A top U.S. Federal Communications Commission (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fcc">FCC</a>) official called on <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/apple">Apple</a> and <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/google">Google</a> to remove <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/tiktok">TikTok</a> from their app stores.
Earlier this month, <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-tapes-us-user-data-china-bytedance-access">BuzzFeed News</a> obtained audio showing that <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/china">Chinese</a> employees of ByteDance, the Beijing-based company behind TikTok, have “repeatedly accessed nonpublic data” from American users. Referring to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leaked-internal-audio-from-tiktok-shows-u-s-user-data-accessed-from-china-despite-denials-report">report</a>, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called on Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook to nix the app from its platforms.
“It is clear that TikTok poses an unacceptable national security risk due to its extensive data harvesting being combined with Beijing’s apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data,” Carr <a href="https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1541823585957707776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1541823585957707776%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2022%2F06%2F29%2Ffcc-commissioner-tells-apple-google-to-remove-tiktok-from-app-stores.html">wrote</a> to the executives. “But it is also clear that TikTok’s pattern of conduct … puts it out of compliance with the policies that both of your companies require every app to adhere to as a condition of remaining available on your app stores.”
TikTok <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiktok-was-most-visited-site-in-2021">surpassed</a> Google as the most visited website in 2021. Likewise, TikTok beat Snapchat and Instagram as the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiktok-surges-past-instagram-and-snapchat-as-top-app-for-gen-z">most popular</a> social media platform among young Americans.
“TikTok is not what it appears to be on the surface,” Carr added. “It is not just an app for sharing funny videos or memes. That’s the sheep&#8217;s clothing. At its core, TikTok functions as a sophisticated surveillance tool that harvests extensive amounts of personal and sensitive data.”
Former President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-says-he-will-take-action-to-ban-chinese-owned-app-tiktok-from-u-s">considered banning TikTok</a> in 2020, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Americans should download the app “only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” Carr — a Trump appointee — affirmed that Tiktok “collects everything from search and browsing histories to keystone patterns and biometric identifiers, including faceprints.”
“The list of personal and sensitive data it collects goes on from there,” Carr continued. “This should come as no surprise, however. Within its own borders, the PRC has developed some of the most invasive and omnipresent surveillance capabilities in the world to maintain authoritarian control.”
Indeed, the Chinese government uses video surveillance, tracks messaging accounts, and leverages other forms of personal data to promote the goal of “police informatization,” according to the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/how-china-harnesses-data-fusion-to-make-sense-of-surveillance-data/">Brookings Institution</a>. Among other capabilities, officials are able to combine facial recognition data from video systems with geographic information, then send the data to “societal resource integration platforms” in places like Xinjiang, where the Chinese government is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-on-banning-goods-from-xinjiang-slave-labor-and-genocide">detaining</a> members of the Uyghur ethnic group.
An <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/06/09/executive-order-on-protecting-americans-sensitive-data-from-foreign-adversaries/">executive order</a> from President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-kills-trump-ban-on-tiktok-and-other-chinese-apps-accused-of-spying-instead-asks-for-further-investigation">shelved the Trump ban</a>, which had been blocked in September 2020 by a federal judge.
Biden’s order directed the federal government to “evaluate these threats through rigorous, evidence-based analysis and should address any unacceptable or undue risks consistent with overall national security, foreign policy, and economic objectives, including the preservation and demonstration of America’s core values and fundamental freedoms.”
“By operating on United States information and communications technology devices, including personal electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers, connected software applications can access and capture vast swaths of information from users, including United States persons’ personal information and proprietary business information,” the order said. “Foreign adversary access to large repositories of United States persons’ data also presents a significant risk.”

In this photo illustration the TikTok logo seen displayed on

Federal Official Calls On Google And Apple To Purge TikTok From App Stores

FCC Head Wants Apple And Google To Ban TikTok

Apple

Google

FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington dismissed calls for the FCC to stop Elon Musk&#8217;s acquisition of Twitter, instead calling for regulators and the general public to welcome it as a win for freedom of speech online.
&#8220;Some have recently called on the FCC to stop Elon Musk from acquiring Twitter,&#8221; Simington said in a <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/simington-comments-acquisition-twitter">statement</a> Monday. &#8220;But nothing in the United States Code or our regulations gives us the right to interfere with this transaction. Our competition review authority does not and has never extended to internet platforms like Twitter.&#8221;
Even if the deal was within the scope of the FCC&#8217;s authority, Simington continued, it would be &#8220;inappropriate and contrary to the public interest&#8221; to block it. Simington rejected concerns about potential concentration of the social media market, noting that Musk buying Twitter was not out of place in the ownership structures of the media industry, or even other social media platforms.
He pointed out several examples of this structure: The New York Times is operated by Chairman A.G. Sulzberger, who inherited the position from his father Arthur Sulzberger; The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos&#8217; holding company Nash Holdings; Google and its parent company Alphabet are run by CEO Sundar Pichai; Facebook and its parent company Meta are operated by Mark Zuckerberg, who is the founder, chairman, CEO, and controlling shareholder of both.
Simington also noted that vertical integration in online media companies is widespread, and there are multiple examples of individuals or companies owning or controlling both broadband internet providers as well as online services like search engines, streaming platforms, and news sites. Furthermore, Simington said that concerns about Elon Musk owning both Twitter and Starlink &#8220;could not be taken seriously,&#8221; since Starlink currently provides broadband internet to less than 1% of Americans.
Simington also rejected other calls for the federal government to stop Musk from &#8220;enshrining free expression on Twitter.&#8221; Previously, several Democratic members of Congress and left-wing commentators lamented Musk&#8217;s buyout of Twitter, and called for regulation to stop the flow of &#8220;disinformation&#8221; and &#8220;hate.&#8221;
&#8220;[I’m] concerned his personal views will stop the fight against disinformation on social media,&#8221; Democratic California Rep. <a href="https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/1519111586090082304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1519111586090082304%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Fmollie-hemingway-drops-adam-schiff-after-elon-musks-twitter-deal-triggers-him">Adam Schiff</a> tweeted last week.  &#8220;The problem on Twitter hasn&#8217;t been too much content moderation – it&#8217;s too much hate.&#8221;
&#8220;Elon Musk and a handful of billionaires now have dangerous influence over the most powerful online platforms,&#8221; Democratic Massachusetts Senator <a href="https://twitter.com/SenMarkey/status/1518998477140856832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1518998477140856832%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Fdemocrat-senator-demands-algorithmic-justice-in-the-wake-of-elon-musks-twitter-takeover">Ed Markey</a> tweeted. &#8220;They can&#8217;t be trusted, and self-regulation has failed. We must pass laws to protect privacy and promote algorithmic justice for internet users, especially for kids.&#8221;
CNN media analyst <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-are-headed-to-hell-cnn-guest-blames-musk-and-trump-for-twitter-deal-in-unhinged-rant">David Zurawik</a> issued similar calls in a rant on &#8220;Reliable Sources&#8221; Sunday. &#8220;[You] need controls on this,&#8221; Zurawik said. &#8220;You need regulation. You cannot let these guys control discourse in this country, or we are headed to hell!&#8221;
&#8220;The only merit in such proposals is their candor in proposing something so blatantly illegal,&#8221; Simington said in response to those calls. &#8220;The law in this country does not recognize a government interest in restricting the open exchange of ideas. Labeling content as “fake news” or “disinformation” does not change that. It would be not only unconstitutional, but plainly un-American, for any arm of the government to act against Twitter or Mr. Musk for such a purpose.&#8221;
Simington is the second FCC Commissioner to shoot down left-wing calls for the FCC to interfere in Musk&#8217;s purchase of Twitter. Fellow Commissioner <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/carr-rejects-call-fcc-block-musks-purchase-twitter">Brendan Carr</a> rejected the notion after left-wing advocacy group <a href="https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications/open-markets-details-how-us-government-can-block-musk-takeover-of-twitter">Open Markets Institute</a> published a statement calling on the FCC, FTC, and DOJ to block the purchase. “The FCC has no authority to block Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, and to suggest otherwise is absurd,&#8221; Carr said. &#8220;I would welcome the full FCC making it clear that we will not entertain these types of frivolous arguments.”

Elon Musk Buys Social Network Twitter

‘Plainly Un-American:’ FCC Commissioner Shoots Down Leftist Calls To Stop Elon Musk Buying Twitter

FCC Commissioner Shoots Down Leftist Calls To Stop Elon Musk Twitter Deal

Elon Musk

Jeff Bezos

Mark Zuckerberg

Twitter

Washington Post

Last week, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner Brendan Carr slammed Apple CEO, Tim Cook, for hypocrisy, after the Big Tech executive gave a speech regarding “Apple’s commitment to running the App Store in a way that promotes human rights.”
Carr <a href="https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1517181456732540934">argued</a> that Cook’s words run counter to the “harsh reality of Apple’s conduct in China.”
In a letter to Cook, Carr noted that while the Apple CEO was speaking in D.C. about his “App Store policies promoting privacy and human rights,” his company was “continuing its well documented campaign in Beijing of aggressively censoring apps at the behest of the Communist Party of China.”
Carr concluded, arguing that it is “past time to stand up” for human rights, and for Apple to “evaluate its overall relationship with China, particularly its extensive manufacturing operations there, to ensure that these relationships reflect the global Apple voices.”
Carr’s criticism follows <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-censorship-data.html">The New York Times</a>’ bombshell report from May 2021, in which it was shown that Apple’s self-proclaimed quest for privacy doesn’t apply when it comes to users of its products and services in China.
According to the report, Apple planned to store user data at centers in Guiyang, China — and another in the Inner Mongolia region — after largely ceding “control to the Chinese government.” This involved Chinese state management of the computers, the abandonment of encryption technology not permitted by the Chinese regime, and “digital keys that unlock information on those computers” being held in the very “data centers they’re meant to secure.”
“But to stay on the right side of Chinese regulators, his company has put the data of its Chinese customers at risk and has aided government censorship in the Chinese version of its App Store,” the report said of Cook.
The report also detailed allegations by current and former employees of the Silicon Valley giant that Cook “ultimately approved the plans to store customer data on Chinese servers and to aggressively censor apps” on the Apple “App Store.”
This came despite Apple’s claim to be committed to both “human rights” and privacy. In their “Our Commitment to Human Rights” document, for example, they declared that they “feel a deep sense of responsibility to make technology for people that respects their human rights, empowers them with useful tools and information, and enhances their overall quality of life.” 
According to the Big Tech giant, such “commitment” involves “setting the industry standard for minimizing personal data collection,” by building “ privacy protections into everything [they] make.”
Ian Haworth is a writer for The Daily Wire and contributor to Morning Wire. Follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/ighaworth">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ighaworth">Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/IanGHaworth">YouTube</a>.

Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook Slammed For Human Rights Hypocrisy Over China Censorship

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote Wednesday to break a deadlock in the Senate over yet another radically progressive Biden nominee.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) nominee Alvaro Bedoya <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-votes-move-forward-with-bedoyas-ftc-confirmation-2022-03-30/">can now head</a> to a confirmation vote after Harris broke the 50-50 tie in the senate, though he did not receive enough votes in the committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to be <a href="https://www.commerce.senate.gov/nominations">recommended favorably,</a> lacking support from Republicans.
Neither did Gigi Sohn, Biden&#8217;s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) nominee, who Biden nominated for an FCC seat in October. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/senate-democrats-look-to-break-deadlock-on-biden-ftc-and-fcc-nominees/">is expected</a> to use the same procedural process, the discharge petition, to again bypass Republican opposition and advance Sohn&#8217;s nomination.
Both Bedoya and Sohn are likely to face heavy backlash from Republicans for their far-Left policy stances — stances that Bedoya and Sohn have made clear on social media.
If Bedoya is confirmed to the FTC and Sohn to the FCC, a Democratic majority would be cemented at these agencies. And conservatives warn that confirming either nominee would place radicals on two of the nation&#8217;s most important regulatory bodies.
&#8220;Regulators are supposed to be neutral,&#8221; Dan Gainor, vice president of Free Speech America at the Media Research Center warned The Daily Wire in a Wednesday phone interview.
&#8220;Both of them are unable to be neutral,&#8221; he said, referring to Sohn and Bedoya and noting that modern day social media gives a vivid glimpse into the political beliefs of nominees. &#8220;They are both radical. They post on Twitter. They tell us how radical they are.&#8221;
Neither Schumer nor the White House responded to requests for comment from The Daily Wire for this story.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I&#39;m so deeply honored to be nominated by <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> to serve as <a href="https://twitter.com/FCC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FCC</a> Commissioner. If confirmed, I&#39;ll work to fulfill his goal of ensuring that every household in the US has robust broadband Internet. Congratulations to <a href="https://twitter.com/JRosenworcel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JRosenworcel</a> on her ascension to Chair &#8211; well deserved!
&mdash; Gigi Sohn (@gigibsohn) <a href="https://twitter.com/gigibsohn/status/1453032126060838912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Bedoya has repeatedly and publicly criticized conservative figures like former President Donald Trump.
&#8220;What ELSE does Trump have to say for the media to expressly call him a racist and white supremacist,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/alvarombedoya/status/951834768919990277">asked Bedoya in a January 2018 tweet</a>. &#8220;Does he literally have to say &#8216;white people are better than black people&#8217;? Does he have to say the N word? At some point, it&#8217;s not a &#8216;racist comment.&#8217; It&#8217;s just a racist.&#8221;
In a tweet following the January 6 Capitol Riot, Bedoya called for Republican senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz to resign from their positions.
He <a href="https://twitter.com/alvarombedoya/status/1365422051704602631?s=20&amp;t=Cy-M7H4AEvDyCZIoSQBCHg">also called ICE</a> an &#8220;out-of-control domestic surveillance agency that peers into all our lives&#8221; and <a href="https://twitter.com/gregggonsalves/status/1426607823434170374">retweeted</a> an August 2021 tweet calling Republican governors Ron DeSantis of Florida, Greg Abbott of Texas, and Tate Reeves of Mississippi &#8220;death eaters&#8221; over the coronavirus containment policies.
Several Republicans criticized Bedoya for these comments in March.
&#8220;I remain concerned by the frequency with which he has publicly expressed divisive views on policy matters rather than using a more measured and unifying tone,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/senate-democrats-look-to-break-deadlock-on-biden-ftc-and-fcc-nominees/">said</a> Republican Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the ranking Republican on the Commerce Committee.
Bedoya did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Daily Wire.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Hawley and Cruz must resign. <a href="https://t.co/1zNCctjC5G">https://t.co/1zNCctjC5G</a>
&mdash; Alvaro Bedoya (@alvarombedoya) <a href="https://twitter.com/alvarombedoya/status/1347514156216418305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Sohn, too, has publicly used her platform to attack conservatives and Republicans.
She <a href="https://twitter.com/gigibsohn/status/1298638459339509761?s=20&amp;t=lnplN5LyGm1k_jpLy1PQgA">characterized</a> Republicans and a second Trump presidency as a threat to &#8220;our Republic&#8221; and <a href="https://twitter.com/gigibsohn/status/1169292338277093377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1169292338277093377%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthefederalist.com%2F2022%2F01%2F18%2Fbidens-fcc-commissioner-nominee-gigi-sohn-wants-to-nuke-right-leaning-broadcasters-from-air%2F">accused</a> Fox News of playing a role in &#8220;destroying democracy &amp; electing autocrats.&#8221;
She has also suggested that she would use the power of the FCC to silence opponents — including in media.
&#8220;This, and its lack of candor during the failed merger with Tribune, calls into question Sinclair’s fitness to be a broadcast licensee,&#8221; she <a href="https://twitter.com/gigibsohn/status/1053982573813264384">tweeted</a> in October 2018 regarding a report that Sinclair Media ordered employees to air biased segments and feed favorable questions to Republicans. 
&#8220;Will <a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1cvl2hr r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" role="link" href="https://twitter.com/FCC">@FCC</a> do anything when Sinclair’s licenses are up for renewal?&#8221; she asked.
Katie McAuliffe, federal affairs manager at Americans for Tax Reform and executive director of Digital Liberty, said in a Wednesday evening phone interview that though the FCC has the ability to extend or terminate a broadcaster&#8217;s licensing, it has &#8220;never ever before been implied that that would ever be done based off of view point.&#8221;
&#8220;Unless there&#8217;s some egregiously violative nature, then most people tend to keep their licenses,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But for [Sohn] to imply that she would like to see certain news organizations or certain companies no longer have access to those licenses&#8230;is a very real problem.&#8221;
Sohn did not respond to requests for comment from The Daily Wire.
When the Biden FCC nominee sits down with senators during her confirmation process and is asked about such points, MRC’s Gainor predicted, she will &#8220;of course&#8221; say that she would be neutral.
&#8220;What else do you expect them to say?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;They really act like we are that stupid.&#8221;
The senate is not expected to vote on confirming Bedoya until after the Senate&#8217;s Easter break, and Schumer <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/senate-democrats-look-to-break-deadlock-on-biden-ftc-and-fcc-nominees/">has said</a> that he wishes to spend the upcoming week focused on Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Both the FCC and the FTC have been busy doing their business without getting bogged down in politics, McAuliffe said, but that could change if &#8220;firebrands&#8221; like Sohn and Bedoya are confirmed.
&#8220;People are looking at having their information stolen,&#8221; she said, &#8220;how they resolve these claims, how they are made whole, they are worried about their data security, and the FTC should really be focused on those kinds of things that are actual consumer harms rather than going after successful companies just because you have some kind of political priority.&#8221;
But Democrats say it is time to fill the vacant spots on the FCC and the FTC.
&#8220;The FTC Is the security guard for America&#8217;s consumers,&#8221; Democratic Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/senate-democrats-look-to-break-deadlock-on-biden-ftc-and-fcc-nominees/">said</a> in a March statement. &#8220;The FTC needs to be able to protect all Americans, and to accomplish that we need to have a commission that is not deadlocked, but has somebody like Mr. Bedoya who can help us move ahead on these issues.&#8221;

Democrats Advancing Two More Radically Progressive Biden Nominees

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